Housing/Gentrification

What is Mario Woods telling us? Mario, you made a film, shot a film about your home, the Bayview. It was titled, “HP From Then till Now”. Opening shot, your home, mid-shot—the faces and voices of your home—wide shot; shots from different angles—shots all over. Mario, tell us what it is you see, what are you telling us? The only thing that many people know about you is the image of you, pursued by the cops, and the gunshots ringing out, piercing your body, which is the black body of the city, the black memory of the city, the memory

Gripping the steering wheel so tightly my hands hurt, I saw my mama so many years before, looking straight ahead to the road, trying to not let the mountain of tears crush her soft face. Now it was me and my sun alone on the highway, 30 years later, trying to drive away from my torn and crumbled heart..

A cherry lipstick red 1974 Chevrolet glided down 24st street in “la mision” as it’s called by La Raza and so many other working class communities throughout the centuries who built this beautiful barrio after the missionaries stole it from the Ohlone Nation.

Like many young men of color in America, Mario Woods was a young African American man who was fatally shot by the police. He was a young man who had many friends and family who loved him. He was murdered on December 2nd 2015 because the police thought he had a knife in his hand.

STATEMENT: For Mario Woods and all crimes of displacement and police terror against our poor, Black, Brown and disabled bodies we, the most impacted, are calling for the resignations of the San Francisco Mayor and Police Chief

There have been at least two "frets" in San Francisco in the past few months. A fret is where police go out in the poor neighborhoods – SOMA, the Tenderloin – and stop anyone who looks poor and/or houseless.

"One of the main issues in life I think we should be paying attention to is the mental destruction of Black (so-called African American) culture. Life itself is a whole different experience in the eyes of the inner city Black youth. The problem is not money, nor is the problem "education". The problem is the lack of culture. Now in these times the majority of Black people adapt to life, making their own culture. These cultures deprive from the mental progression of Black youth, leaving them in a state of immaturity.